First group shot of ‘The Expendables’

Say hello to every film villain’s worst nightmare. It’s the first group shot of the dream team of action heroes in Sylvester Stallone’s THE EXPENDABLES. This badass crew includes (from left to right) Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Jet Li, Stallone, Jason Statham, and Dolph Lundgren, all portraying a team of mercenaries hired to take out a South American dictator. Not pictured are additional action stars appearing in the movie including Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Gary Daniels.

Although we won’t get to see the finished product until August 20th, 2010 when it blasts its way into theaters, the film has been generating massive hype online thanks to its star-studded cast.

I’d ask why it took a studio this long to get this many veteran action stars together but I already know the answer. Money. Granted, not all of these guys are A-list talent at the moment and some like Willis and Schwarzenegger are only making cameos, but the cost of all the star salaries would normally break the company bank and there is no guarantee that simply putting everyone in one film would equal box office success. Although in this case, Stallone would have to screw up on a Mel Gibson scale to dampen the current potential for this movie.

Miraculously, the budget for this movie has so far stayed south of $100 million but if it’s really successful I would expect the sequel to be bigger. Let’s just hope a few of these movies can get cranked out before some of these action film vets have to take down bad guys from power chairs. I’d still sooner pay to see that than another TRANSFORMERS or fighting video game movie.

Source: Reel Empire